The Lotus Eaters
by Arcole
Summary: The group finds themselves in the lap of luxury as they discover the first colony settlement. However, there's trouble in paradise--trouble that began over fifty years ago. This is my Season 2, Episode 3. I recommend reading in order.
1. Chapter 1

The Lotus Eaters

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Earth 2. I'm just borrowing it to write additional episodes. This is the third episode of my version of Season 2. Read "Blast from the Past," then "Bess's Adventures in Wonderland" before this one. If you're out there and love Earth 2, let me know you're reading. I'm going to write these regardless just for my own enjoyment, but it sure is nice to know you care.

_**Chapter One**_

**Previously on Earth 2—**_Elizabeth tells Devon the planet will reject them. They will all die. _

Dawn had broken less than an hour earlier and Cameron had ridden through the narrow rocky valley in the early morning dew to reach the spot he'd found the day before.

Riding out on scouts was fairly new to him. He still didn't feel comfortable carrying a weapon or driving the vehicles. When it came down to it, he often felt a bit on the useless side in the camp.

Danziger, Walman, and Magus had all seen military service—Yale too, technically. Alonzo and Baines were seasoned flyboys. Even Mazatyl and Danner had some previous experience in setting up settlements on mining outposts.

But he'd always lived on the stations. Eben had understood, but she was gone now. Morgan would understand, but Cameron was a reserved person and had never found the opportunity to try to warm up to the prickly government liaison. Bess was certainly nice enough, but she was definitely more in her element than any of the others seeing as how she was the only member of the group to actually live dirtside for any length of time.

When he'd discovered the settlement the day before, it was too close to nightfall to do any real reconnaissance. Several of the others offered to go back in the morning for the advance scout, but Cameron turned them down. He wanted to do it. After all, it was his discovery and his chance to contribute something. So he'd risen before daybreak, packed his gear, and set out on the ATV.

He rounded the bend in the valley and the plain he'd seen the day before opened to him. Cameron stood in the seat of the ATV and raised the jumpers to his eyes.

It was a human settlement all right. He could see a large central complex with a number of smaller buildings surrounding it. The prairie plain had grown up around it and tall grass obscured his view in places, but the buildings themselves seemed quiet and empty and in good shape. Stands of trees grew at a short distance.

His gear chirped in his ear and he heard Alonzo's voice. "What have you got there, Cameron?"

"Just look," he answered, turning his eyepiece out for POV.

Back in the camp, Alonzo, Julia, Yale, and Danziger stood gathered around the monitor set up under the central canopy to see what he'd found.

"The first colony?" Yale asked quietly as the images of the buildings and surrounding grounds appeared on the screen.

The four stood there quietly, taking in the images of the human settlement. Finally Danziger stepped back purposefully and broke the silence. "Let's go find out."

**Roll opening credits. **

Out in the camp, Walman, Baines, and Magus busily loaded the tents and equipment onto the back of the transrover. Behind them, Mazatyl and Danner loaded the back of the dunerail. Everyone, however, kept their distance from the rectangular power generator that hummed in the center of the camp, powered by a sunstone and now providing an unpredictable bridge between the human group and the planet itself.

Baines shot the thing a sidelong look. "I miss the Terrians," he murmured almost to himself.

Walman knew exactly what he meant. "At least they showed up in person. That thing just grabs you whenever it wants you," he grumbled.

Magus gave Walman a light clout on the shoulder. "Relax, guys," she said. "I don't think any of us have to worry about it. Just Danz and the Martins, and they all seem fine now."

"Yeah, but the last time Danz had something alien in his head, he turned into one scary bastard," Baines replied with a shiver.

"The cab of the rover is empty, Baines," Walman teased.

Mazatyl and Danner walked over to join the conversation, each keeping a wide berth around the power generator.

"I think Baines had the right idea," Mazatyl said, giving them a long look. "If it happens again,save me a seat in there, will ya?"

The group laughed, but it was a nervous laughter. They looked up to see Danziger exiting the central canopy, Julia, Alonzo, and Yale behind him. The leaders split up to finish their respective packing, and Danziger headed toward their little conversation group.

All five were staring at him just a bit too intensely and only realized it when the big man asked, "What are you guys staring at?"

"Nothing, Danz," Walman quickly covered. "Just wondering where you want to put that thing." He pointed at the power generator.

"Back of the rover, same as always," came the response. Danziger bent down to take hold of one end of the generator. He waited for one of the group to step forward to help him lift the bulky piece of equipment, but no one volunteered. He looked around, his blue eyes flashing accusingly at them. "Can somebody give me a hand or do I have to call Zero?" he asked, forcing patience into his voice.

Mazatyl stepped forward, then took a breath before touching the hand holds. Together, the two men carried the generator to the rover and lifted it into its customary spot. "See, that wasn't so bad," Danziger chided them. "It's perfectly safe. She won't hurt us."

He gave them another long chastising look, then walked away calling for True.

"She?" Baines whispered in disbelief. "She? He's going around the bend, guys."

Danner watched the tall mechanic walk away, then added, "Maybe, maybe not. There's a lot about this place we don't know."

"I don't want to know," Walman interjected. "I mean the three of us," he motioned to include himself, Baines, and Magus, "were never supposed to even touch the ground. I've seen way more than I wanted to already."

Mazatyl nodded agreement and added, "We've all gotten way more than we signed up for." He looked up into the sky. "And we've got another thousand people coming to join us." He looked up again with a sigh.

"Well, I vote we keep a close eye on Danz and the Martins. Who knows what could happen next?" Walman added and the group nodded in agreement.

Back in their tent, Bess and Morgan finished the last of their packing, then proceeded to take down the lightweight tent canopy. They worked in silence for a while, then Morgan found himself asking, "So, how did you sleep?"

"Fine, I guess," Bess replied absently. "How about you?"

"Fine." They continued to work a bit, rolling the tent up to stow it in its carry bag. Over the rustle of fabric, Morgan commented, "You seemed a little restless."

"Did I?" Bess answered.

"Yeah, just a little," he responded gently. He didn't want to worry her, but she'd been a lot restless, tossing and turning all night.

They gathered the rest of the tent pieces, then carried their bundles of luggage out to where Baines stood on top of the rover, packing up the last of the gear. Morgan passed the tent up to him, noting that Baines hesitated just briefly before taking it from his hands.

"You guys all right this morning?" Baines asked carefully, his dark eyes showing concern beneath the makeshift turban he wore.

"Fine," Morgan answered passing up the rest of their luggage. He knew what Baines meant. Everybody had been walking on eggshells for the past two days—ever since Danziger had installed that godforsaken sunstone into the power generator. Maybe it was just his imagination, but each time he walked past it, he could feel the sunstone staring at him—accusingly.

Baines watched as Morgan rounded the back of the rover. He was a bit disturbed to hear Morgan whisper to the generator, " I said I was sorry. I am very sorry!"

Bess held up the last duffel bag to him, and with a deep breath, he reached down to take it. Bess just smiled at him with that open friendliness he'd come to know and love.

Across the compound, Julia and Alonzo stood next to the dunerail. "Feel like riding a bit?" Alonzo asked. Julia nodded and they climbed in. With a chirp, he heard Danziger's voice on gear.

"Alonzo's riding point in the rail. Magus drives the rover. Let's have Walman, Baines, and Mazatyl flanking with magpros. Which one of you guys wants to bring up the rear?" Danziger's voice called out.

Walman waved his hand and shouted an affirmative. "Fine then, Walman's watching our backs. Gear on everybody, and let's move out," Danziger concluded, then looked out around over the procession.

Uly and Yale followed the rail, Yale busily conducting some type of lesson. Where was True? She ought to be listening in.

He looked around to see her approaching him where he stood off to the side. "Hey, Truegirl," he called to her as she joined him. "Why aren't you in school with Yale and Uly?"

"I just wanted to walk with you for a little while, Dad," she responded. "Yale said I could be excused." She walked along next to him as they turned their path to intersect the train of pedestrians and vehicles.

"Did you sleep okay?" she asked out of the blue.

"Sure I did," he replied suspiciously. "Why?"

"You talked in your sleep," she answered, far too nonchalantly for his comfort.

"What did I say?"

"I couldn't make it out," True replied. "It's probably nothing. Julia said I shouldn't worry." Her step faltered a bit as she realized that she'd said too much.

"You've been talking to Julia about me?" he asked gently. "What about?"

True just kept walking, looking off intently as if paying careful attention to the landscape around them. "She just asked me to keep an eye on you. You know, be sure you were feeling okay," she answered idly. Her acting skills had always been excellent and she was certainly working them today.

"Tell Julia that I'm fine," Danziger answered, just the tiniest bit of gruffness creeping into his deep voice. They walked along quietly, paralleling the group from a distance. Deep inside though, Danziger had to wonder. Was he fine?

The group passed through the narrow valley, rocky walls climbing beside them as a smooth field of grass stretched out on the valley floor. Travel was fairly easy. However, the entire way, Walman and Baines scouted the tops of the rocky ridges, always alert. If ever there was a spot for an ambush, this was it. Walman was relieved to see that Danziger was just as alert as they were, constantly scanning the horizon around them with the handscope.

"See anything, Lonz?" Danziger called over gear as the dunerail turned a corner and left their field of view.

"You are not going to believe this," Alonzo's astonished response came. "I don't believe it."

Within moments, the rest of the party turned out of the valley to see a beautiful panorama unfold below them. Cameron sat on the ATV just a hundred or so yards down the way, scanning the scene with the jumpers.

The rocky valley parted ahead of them, revealing a wide grassy plain dotted with a few stands of trees. The sky stretched overhead, blue and unbroken by clouds. But the amazing sight was the settlement below them. The sun glimmered off the beige walls of the buildings, sparkling against an occasional windowpane.

A large building dominated the center of the town, for lack of a better word, and several smaller building surrounded it. They rolled closer to Cameron.

"Any sign of habitation?" Danziger asked as they drew even with him.

"None," Cameron replied. "I haven't seen a thing move except a few grazing animals far out into the plain."

The group continued to move closer, then Danziger called a halt. "Walman, Mazatyl, get in the rail with Alonzo and Julia. You guys scout ahead, check things out a bit. Stay in contact. Baines, you take right flank, I'll take left. Everybody else stays close to the rover."

With one hand on True's shoulder to guide her back to Yale, Danziger walked to the cab of the rover. He opened the driver's side door and stepped up level with Magus. "Pass me the pistol, will you?" he asked. Danner retrieved it from its storage space and handed it over to Magus.

"What's wrong, Danz?" Magus asked, still holding the pistol in her hand.

"Just a precaution," Danziger answered. "Something about this place gives me the creeps." Apparently satisfied with his reply, Magus passed the pistol over to him.

As Danziger walked past Bess and Morgan, she reached out to take his arm, stopping him. "John, be careful," she said softly, looking up at him. "Something about all this feels wrong." Morgan watched as they both unconsciously glanced toward the power generator humming in the back of the rover.

"I'll be careful," Danziger responded, just as softly. Before Morgan could say anything, Danziger's long strides had taken him away from them, his attention focused on the lay of the land.

Bess drew closer. "Morgan, I don't like this," she began, as she gazed out over the settlement below them. He put a protective arm around her shoulder.

"Neither do I," he answered. "Neither do I."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Bess, I love this place!" Morgan Martin was saying as they walked from room to room in the large building.

Hours of scouting around had convinced everyone, Danziger included, that there was nothing to fear there. No inhabitants, no hostile animals, Grendlers, Terrians, or even dust. This place was perfectly preserved.

Alonzo and Julia joined Morgan and Bess in what appeared to be a very large common room.

"A fully functional medical laboratory and hospital," Julia was saying. "The technology is a little out of date in some ways, but everything we'd really need is there. Drugs, scanners, equipment, you name it. These people were very well supplied!"

Yale entered the room trailed by True and Uly. Yale began talking enthusiastically. "I've already accessed parts of the computer's data banks. It powered up again almost without a hitch. Julia, I've uncovered file after file on indigenous vegetation and animals, as well as--" he paused for emphasis, "--a large number of maps and surveys. I've already begun work on updating our plotted course to New Pacifica from this information."

"Plus," Uly contributed, "there's an old fashioned vid room with a whole bunch of programs I've never seen. True and I are going to play Venusian Bounty Hunter after lunch."

"Wow, a vid room," Morgan's lack of enthusiasm was clearly apparent. "VR outdid those things eighty years ago. That technology is practically stone age."

Slowly, the rest of the group gathered in the room to report their findings.

"The smaller buildings were apparently family housing units," Magus began. "They are not in nearly as good a shape as this building. We guess they were powered down, leaving only this central structure on maintenance cycle."

"We also found signs that there were kids here," Baines added. "Most of the houses have kid furniture and toys."

Danner spoke up from her seat on a long sofa next to Cameron. "There's a huge kitchen in this building, complete with long term food storage units, which are full of all kinds of meats and produce—some of which I recognize as earth items, some are from this planet—including several items we've already learned are not edible."

"Why would they store things they couldn't eat?" Walman asked incredulously.

"That's Walman, thinking with his stomach," Baines teased.

"Maybe for research purposes," answered the ever thoughtful doctor. Julia then filled them in on the treasures of the medical laboratory.

"I'd like to take some time to run those tests I'd planned on everyone's DNA," she continued. "I'll be able to see what changes, if any, are occurring in--" she glanced over toward Bess, Morgan, and Danziger but she broke off as her eyes met Danziger's hard stare. With only the slightest pause, she continued, "Uly and Alonzo and everyone else."

In the sudden silence that followed that remark, True spoke up brightly. "All I know is that I found five bathrooms in this place—all working. With real hot water showers," she grinned up at the adults.

"You haven't been in the water, have you?" Danziger asked sternly.

She held up a scanner. "I checked it. Nothing but water—no contaminants."

At her announcement, the members of the group looked around at each other. "Where did you say you found these bathrooms?" Magus asked, all innocence.

"There's a whole bunch of housing unit rooms down this hall with a bathroom between each set of two," True answered.

It took less than five seconds for the room to empty. True walked over to stand next to her dad, who hadn't moved from his post up against the doorframe.

"Don't worry about us, Dad," she answered. "I've already claimed our room and recoded the lock for it and the bathroom." He looked down at her, his eyes opened a bit wider at the depth of her cunning.

"That means I get to go first," she said, tossing her braids behind her with a flip of her hand as she sashayed out of the room.

Danziger watched her leave with a sense of amazement, then he looked down to see that Bess had also not joined in the mass exodus.

"Not interested in a real hot water shower?" he asked, moving to sit on the arm of the sofa closest to her.

She looked up at him with a hint of trepidation in her big eyes, then she blinked and gave him a smile. "Sure I am. That's the kind of luxury only people as rich as the Adairs can afford on the stations," she answered. "I'm just letting Morgan stake our claim." Her ill-chosen wording fell flat between them.

"I know what you mean," Danziger said comfortingly. He looked around the room, as if searching it for signs of trouble. "No one has found any kind of danger here, Bess. I think it's safe," he said with soft encouragement.

She gave him a weak smile, then stood up. "I better go find Morgan. He'll try to claim two bathrooms," she joked, then walked out of the room, her step subdued and quiet.

Danziger walked out of the building into the bright sunlight, casting his eyes around suspiciously. Something about this place just wasn't right, but he couldn't put a finger on it. He walked over to one of the smaller houses and entered.

In contrast to the main building, which had very few windows, the house had plenty of natural light flooding in. The furnishings had been bright and comfortable at one point, but a thick layer of dust covered everything. He walked into the kitchen area and attempted to turn on the tap, but got nothing.

The bedrooms were also full of dust and looked as if they'd just been abandoned. Personal items were scattered about, a pile of clothing lay on the foot of the bed.

In the next bedroom, he could tell that a child had indeed lived there at one point. There were childish drawings tacked to the wall, now crumbling with age, and children's toys were scattered about. A little vid recorder lay on its side. He fumbled with the controls, then watched as the hologram of a little girl, maybe six or seven years old, appeared before him.

"Did you start, Daddy?" she asked. Danziger heard a masculine voice reply that the hologram was recording.

"Okay," she replied. "What did you want me to do?"

The masculine voice, he assumed it was the girl's father, said, "Just show me what the Terrians taught you."

"We have to go outside," she answered.

"Not that," the man said hastily. "Show me the other thing—show me how you dream now." The girl's eyes fluttered, then her head dropped and she squatted to the ground to place both hands on the floor. She tilted her head to one side in the same pose Danziger had seen Mary take.

The next time the man spoke, it seemed as if he were speaking to someone in the room with him. "Bennett will want to see this," he stated. "The changes are becoming much more pronounced."

A woman's voice came from the other side of the room. "Do you want to record her going into the earth?" she asked shakily.

"No, no," the man's voice was nervous. "That still freaks me out too much. Dream with her for a bit. Come into shot so Bennett can see the contrast between you."

A woman suddenly appeared in the hologram. She was young and had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. She was dressed casually in civilian wear. She looked toward Danziger as if seeing him and he realized he must have been standing in the same perspective as the girl's father as he recorded.

Then the woman's eyes closed and her head dropped in the same pose Alonzo always took when dreaming with Terrians. It was uncanny.

Suddenly the vid crackled and broke up. Danziger fooled with it for a few moments, then realized that the chip had apparently fried due to dust contamination. He might be able to get it working again with a little cleaning, so he stuck it in his vest pocket.

"Bennett," he said to himself, then left the house deep in thought.

When he returned, he was met by an angry Walman, Baines, and Magus who stood around in the common room in apparent altercation with each other.

"It's not my fault our shower is the only one on the fritz," Baines was saying. "I didn't pick it!"

"Hey, Danziger," Magus began as he entered the room. "Make True let us into your suite. Our shower doesn't work and she's done using yours."

About that time True walked in the door, so clean she was practically shining. Her hair dripped onto the floor.

"Come on, True," Walman began cajoling her. "Your dad won't mind waiting a while longer."

"Nope," she answered. "All the showers worked when I found them. You guys must have broken yours. Don't worry, Dad. I've got us all locked up tight."

"Please, True," Magus begged.

"I'm going out to get our stuff off the rover," True replied. "Nobody touch that lock. I've got the tamper alert on and I'll know if you've tried to get in. That's my room and my dad's room and our bathroom."

True left without another word. Baines looked after her sadly. "That's cold, John. That girl of yours is just cold, you know?" he said in disappointment.

"Let me get my tools," Danziger replied with a sigh. "I did a little work on plumbing systems back on the stations. Maybe I can fix it."

"You're a real prince," Magus said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Several minutes later, he found himself deep underneath a maintenance cabinet, his legs stretching out into the room. "There's something wrong with the pump," he said. "Somebody hand me a scan probe."

Walman, Baines, and Magus sat in a circle around the opening. At his order, each of them cast around for the needed item. Finally Magus's hand closed on it and she passed it underneath the opening into Danziger's outstretched hand.

After a few moments of clinks, grunts, and curses, the three heard a slight hum. "There we are," Danziger's voice held the satisfied note of a man who'd solved a problem. "Reset the switch up there and you should have running water," his muffled voice called from inside the cabinet.

The cheers from above let him know that he had indeed fixed the issue. He began passing tools back out of the hatch, but no one seemed to be interested in taking them. Finally, he gathered them into his hands and began to wiggle his way back out of the opening.

All his help had fled and he could hear their debate over who was going first. Finally, Magus cashed in the ladies' first chip, then Baines pulled up women and children first, leaving Walman as the last to come up with a homily, therefore last into the shower.

Danziger could hear Walman complaining, "Baines, you're only five years younger than me—that doesn't make you a child. And hey, if we're counting cold sleep time, you're almost as old as Yale!"

Danziger smiled, then dragged himself the rest of the way out of the opening, banging his head on the low overhead rim. "Yep, just like back on the stations," he groaned.

He found his way to the room True had picked out for them and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" True called back sweetly.

"It's your dad, kiddo. It's safe to open it. I got theirs fixed," he responded.

The door swung open and Danziger looked around to see that True had unpacked their gear and made the two large beds up in fresh linens.

"Where did you find all this stuff?" he asked, gesturing to the sheets and pillows.

"It was all packed up in storage bags in the closet," she answered as she brushed her damp hair before a mirror. "I found all kinds of stuff. Clothes, shoes, you name it."

"Where did these people go?" he wondered aloud and not for the first time.

"Who cares?" True replied. "Just look! Real beds! Cool air!" She looked at him pointedly, "Hot water shower, Dad. This is better than the stations."

She grabbed him a fresh change of clothes out of his duffel and pressed it into his hands, shoving him toward the bathroom doorway. "Go!

He had to admit as he stood under the spray of the shower that she might have been right. Who cares? he thought to himself. In all his life, he might never have felt anything so wonderful as that cascade of hot water soothing away all the tension, the grime, and the weariness of the past several months.

He stood there, letting the water run down his head and back like rain. He opened his eyes. Black. Black water fell around him. The water was black. He held out his hand and black rain fell into it.

But when he turned to the shower head in surprise, it was clear again. The water that ran out at his feet was clear as well. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Black rain," he whispered to himself. Despite the warmth of the water, John Danziger suddenly felt very cold.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It took a while, but Alonzo finally managed to drag Julia away from the lab to the shower and then to a late lunch. Cameron and Danner had restarted the kitchen, with a little help from Walman, who had gotten hungry enough to help, and had pulled out a meal fit for an Adair.

"What is all this?" Alonzo asked as he approached the large table in the communal dining hall they'd opened.

Cameron proudly stood over his banquet and pointed out the various vegetables, casseroles, and meats they'd brought out of long term food storage.

"Chicken cacciatore with actual chicken and actual tomatoes," he began. "Green beans with garlic and onions, honeyed baby carrots—we found empty beehives in the greenhouse out back--"

"Who cares what it is," Walman interjected irritably. "It's not spirulina and protein cakes. Let's just eat it!"

Apparently the mood around the table was more in line with Walman than Cameron because a full-on grab for dishes began immediately.

"Aren't we going to wait for John and the Martins?" Yale called over the noise of the group.

Uly looked up at him from his plate which he'd piled high with what appeared to be mashed potatoes and gravy. "I guess not, Yale. Better get yourself something before it's all gone."

Before too many minutes passed, Danziger, Morgan, and Bess entered the room. Danziger pulled up a seat next to True, who'd managed to grab a couple of extra rolls for him before the basket went to the end of the table. Morgan and Bess found seats next to Alonzo and Julia, Morgan taking the seat next to Julia.

As the furor over the passing of dishes died down, Morgan murmured into Julia's ear, "I need to talk to you."

"What is it?" Julia asked between mouthfuls.

"Bess was crying in the shower," he whispered, taking a look at his wife to see her totally engaged in conversation with Baines on her other side. "When I asked her what was wrong, she said she couldn't remember."

"I'll see about starting those tests right after lunch," Julia replied.

Down the table, Uly looked over at True's plate. "Yuck, carrots," he said. "I hate carrots."

True stabbed a baby carrot with her fork, glaze dripping off it onto her plate and placed it in her mouth with deep appreciation. "I never ate anything so good in my whole life," she sighed. "Real vegetables—not pressed."

"We had real vegetables all the time back home," Uly said with a superior air.

Yale made an attempt to shush his bragging.

"Yeah, well you were a spoiled rich kid too," True answered, chasing a piece of broccoli around her plate.

"That's enough, True," Danziger interrupted. "Eat your lunch and enjoy it while you've got it. It's not like we can take the food storage unit with us when we leave."

"Leave?" True blurted, taking her eyes off her plate. "We're not leaving, are we?"

The table went quiet. Danziger looked around at the group. All but Bess looked at him in shock and disappointment. Bess looked down at her plate where she'd been pushing food around, but not apparently eating.

"Of course we're leaving," Danziger addressed the table at large. "New Pacifica isn't moving this way, folks. We'll hang around long enough to answer a few questions and refit ourselves, but we can't stay too long."

"Not too long," Alonzo said with a winsome grin. "But we can stay a day or two."

"Or three?" Danner chimed in.

"Or a week—just long enough to learn some new recipes from the kitchen files?" Cameron ventured. "It's so good to have a real kitchen again."

"Yeah," Walman added, "how come we don't get this kind of cooking on the road, Cameron?"

"I'm a caterer—not a wilderness expert," Cameron countered. "You can't get results like this with heat tabs or over an open fire. You need a real kitchen."

"So you're a caterer by trade?" Alonzo asked. "What on earth brought you on this trip?"

"He's probably Adair's private chef," Baines joked. "Otherwise, why would the advance group have a caterer on board?"

Cameron didn't answer, but looked down at his plate instead.

Mazatyl spoke up for him. "Back off a little, guys," he commanded. "Eden Advance had to have someone who could set up and run a large dining operation. Otherwise, how are we going to feed over a thousand hungry colonists?"

"So what's your specialty, Mazatyl?" Magus asked with interest. "Cameron's the food guy, what do you do?"

"I build these," Mazatyl gestured to the building around them. "When we get to New Pacifica, I'll be the one putting together the shelters and the hospital."

"If any of the building materials actually managed to land intact close enough to reach and haven't been stolen by Grendlers," Morgan commented pessimistically.

"Well, I know I'll have a job when we get there," Danner spoke up. "The comm dish made it down safe and sound."

Alonzo looked at her sadly. "The problem with that is first of all, we left without clearance and secondly, now we know just what the Council really thinks about our presence here. I don't think we really have anyone out there to bother talking to."

The mood at the table was now very subdued. Everyone turned back to their meal, the only sound being the clink of utensil against plate.

Danziger couldn't take it any longer. "Cameron," he said, "that was probably the single best meal I ever had in my life. We'll take a couple of days to let you learn all you can from the kitchen system on how to be a wilderness expert—see if you can't start getting this kind of result with heat tabs and firewood."

Everyone laughed a little and the mood lifted.

After lunch, the group broke up—each with some plan for how to spend the rest of the day. Uly and True headed immediately to the vid room to see what kind of new adventures it held.

They managed to convince Morgan to come with them, but he put them off long enough to see that Bess went to visit Julia.

"I'll stay if you want me to," Morgan told her.

"No, Morgan," Bess answered sweetly. "You go help the kids get the vid room up and running. They need some entertainment. I'll just visit with Julia a while."

"Okay, if you're sure," he responded. At a nod from both his wife and the doctor, he followed Uly and True down the windowless hallway to a small room. The ceiling stretched over them in a dome and the floor seemed unusually springy to the touch.

"What kind of place is this?" True asked.

"This is old fashioned vid—hologramatic VR," Morgan explained. "You're really roughing it if you've stooped this low."

"Why does the floor feel so springy?" Uly asked, bouncing a little on it.

Morgan squatted down to feel the texture. "It's a movable perspective floor. When the game starts, it moves with you so you can walk around. But we all have to stay together. Man, this is pitiful."

Morgan rose and walked to a control panel and brought the system online. Like everything else, it came up without a hitch. A figure suddenly appeared in the center of the room. It appeared to be some kind of animal—a dinosaur, maybe. But since when were dinosaurs hot pink?

"I'm Billy, your dinosaur buddy," it began. "What game would you like to play?"

"This thing is set for preschool level," True groaned. "Can't you bump it up a notch?" she asked Morgan.

He fiddled with the control panel for a moment, and the hot pink dinosaur disappeared to be replaced by an overly muscular, crew cut wearing, cigar chewing, heavily armored soldier.

"I'm Sergeant Billy Slag, you maggots," it snarled. "State your game or drop and give me twenty!"

"That's more like it," Uly cried in excitement. "Venusian Bounty Hunter for three players!" he shouted. Suddenly the entire room rippled and they were surrounded by a dense jungle of purple and orange foliage. The three of them were dressed in body armor, and impressive looking rifles had appeared in their hands. Strange sounds came at them from the underbrush.

"This isn't half bad," Morgan began. Out of nowhere a savage looking, six legged, fanged lizard beast sprang toward them. All three began to fire their rifles and the beast dropped to the ground, oozing green blood from a number of bullet holes.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Uly yelled and the three of them moved off into the woods, stalking their prey.

Julia sat at the laboratory computer terminal, studying the results of Bess's DNA sample. "This can't be right," she sighed, wiping her hand across her forehead. Alonzo entered the room.

"How's it going?" he asked.

"Is Bess okay?" she responded instead of answering his question.

"She's fine. I walked her back to her room and she lay down for a nap like you suggested," Alonzo answered. "What are you finding out?"

"Bess's DNA has definitely changed," Julia replied. "But in a different way from Uly's. She's not becoming more like the Terrians. She's becoming something else."

"Like what?" Alonzo answered.

"The closest parallel I can find is the pollen substance from those flowers," Julia answered. "But even that isn't it. I need to check Morgan and Danziger as well." She turned to face him. "I think I need to check all of us."

Several minutes later, Danziger lay on his side on the lab's examining table. "Don't move," Julia commanded as she slipped the needle into his spinal column to retrieve some fluid. He could feel some pressure but no pain as she deftly completed the procedure.

"Just what are you looking for, doc?" he asked as she lowered his shirt and helped him sit up.

"I want to see if there are any changes in you on the cellular level," she stated evenly. "Something is different about you, Morgan, and Bess. We need to understand what it is."

"While you're at it," Danziger suggested, "give True a good once over too. I just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong with her."

"Have you noticed anything?" Julia asked.

"No, she seems fine. She says she's fine. But something deep inside me says that something is wrong," Danziger replied, looking around. "Something's wrong with all of this."

Alonzo spoke up from where he sat at the lab table. "I get nothing from the Terrians—not even a sign that there are any living anywhere close," he said.

"I found a hologram vid I wanted you to see," Danziger suddenly remembered. "It locked up on me, probably due to dust contamination. It was of a little girl dreaming like the Terrians do. The guy in the vid said he was going to show it to Bennett."

"Franklin Bennett?" Julia asked incredulously.

"That's my best guess," Danziger replied.

Suddenly the door flew open and Yale entered, clearly upset about something.

"Yale, what's wrong?" Julia asked, crossing to his side.

"The screaming children! From Bennett's ship! I found them," Yale moaned, then slumped to a chair with his face in his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"What are you talking about, Yale?" Alonzo asked.

"When we were on Bennett's ship trying to break down the encryption on his files to download the fix to Eve, I ran across images of screaming children," Yale began weakly. "They were in terrible pain. While I was reading through the last logs of this settlement to see what might have happened to these people, I found those images again."

Yale looked up at them, tremendous hurt in his expressive eyes. "Those children lived here. They were the children of this settlement. The first humans born on this world," he explained.

"Let me guess," Danziger interjected. "These children were being assimilated by the Terrians, like Uly."

"Yes," Yale answered, "how did you know?"

"I found a vid of a little girl dreaming just like Mary did, very Terrian," Danziger answered.

"Why were they screaming, Yale?" Julia asked.

"The records say something about the assimilation went very wrong. The children began to be in terrible pain. I saw Terrians gathered around them making horrible noises, like cries of their own," Yale recalled painfully.

"The adults tried to painblock the children, but it got worse and worse. They all died," Yale concluded sadly.

"What happened to the adults?" Alonzo asked.

"The records say that within a few weeks, all the adults began to get sick. They left their houses and moved back into the central building. One by one, they all died," he answered. "The last entry says that the Terrians had begun carrying the bodies into the earth with them."

"That explains why we haven't found anyone—no graves, no bodies," Danziger stated. "Maybe the Terrians felt guilty."

"For what?" Alonzo asked sharply. "We don't know that the Terrians had anything to do with it."

"We don't know nearly enough to begin to say either way," Julia intervened before the two began to go at it. "Where were Bennett and Elizabeth during all this?"

"They'd apparently left some weeks before it all began to set Eve up in orbit. They were in radio contact only," Yale answered.

"Well, that answers some questions about what they meant. They said the planet would reject us," Julia said softly. "Maybe that's what happened."

"Julia," Yale continued, "the sickness they describe seemed very familiar. It reminded me of Devon."

"I better get into the files in here," Julia said, turning back to the terminal. Before she got very far into her research, she remembered Danziger. "John," she said, "go back to your room and lie down for a bit. Alonzo, make sure he goes."

"I don't need a baby sitter," Danziger growled. "Lonz, you stay and help Julia and Yale figure this out."

"I'm not kidding, John," Julia answered. "I want you to lie down for a bit and let that puncture heal up completely. If you won't go to your room, you can stay in here."

"I'll go lie down in my room," Danziger responded. He felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. A nap sounded like a great idea.

He walked into the corridor to see Morgan and Uly coming down the hall at a fast clip, supporting True between them. Horrified, he could see blood running down her face. A lightning flash of memory jolted through him and he could see Bess standing on a field with black rain falling around them. "True's dying," she said.

Abject terror took hold of him and he ran down the hall to snatch True up into his arms. A stab of pain shot through his lower back, but he hardly felt it as he ran back into the laboratory.

Julia turned at the commotion as they entered the door, her attention torn between the bleeding True and the sight of Danziger carrying her. "Alonzo, take her!" she called. Alonzo sprang up to take True from Danziger's arms, just as his legs began to buckle beneath him.

Morgan and Yale supported him on either side, easing him to a nearby cot. Julia shouted orders at them, "Flat on his back—do not let him move."

Despite the now excruciating pain shooting down both legs, Danziger managed to ask about True.

"She banged her head in the vid room," Morgan explained.

Julia did a quick scan with her glove over True, sealing the cut on her forehead. "You're fine, True," she assured her then turned to where Danziger lay on the cot, struggling to get up. "Be still, John! She's fine. Just a cut on the head and probably a bit of a headache."

Julia administered an analgesic, then allowed True to sit up. She did look a bit of a mess with dried blood running down her face and onto her shirt. She grabbed a cleansing wipe and removed the worst of it. "Better?" she asked.

"I'm fine," True sounded more annoyed than anything else.

Julia then turned her attention to her other patient. John lay on the bed, now completely unmoving and she could see he was in pain from the clench of his jaw and the little beads of perspiration that had broken out on his too pale forehead.

"That was really stupid, you know, picking her up like that just after a spinal procedure," she berated him. "I told you to lie down and rest." Along with Alonzo and Yale's help, she carefully rolled him over on his side so she could attempt to repair the leak in the dura covering his spinal nerves.

He wasn't healing as fast as she'd have liked. It reminded her of how slowly Uly had recovered from the incision she'd made on him back when Riley wanted her to harvest his pineal gland.

"I've painblocked the worst of it, I think," she commented as they eased Danziger onto his back again. Then she addressed him directly. "If you so much as twitch before I say you can, I will sedate you. Do you understand me?"

He gave her a tiny nod. "Is she okay? Really?" he asked quietly.

"She's fine," Julia replied. As she rose to move away, Danziger grabbed her hand, wincing at the pain the movement caused.

"I want to talk to you. In private," he said seriously.

Julia nodded, mystified, then put his hand back down onto his chest. "Okay. But in the meantime, just lie still and rest." He gave her another tiny nod.

Across the room, True and Uly were involved in a debate with Morgan. "It was too your fault, Morgan," Uly was saying. "When the garg jumped out at us, you ran."

"I was heading for cover," Morgan retorted. "I told you we all had to stay together."

"You confused the floor, Morgan. That's why I ran into the wall," True said accusingly.

Yale spoke up to intervene. "Will you three children please take this discussion out of the laboratory? True's father needs some peace and quiet."

With a guilty start, True realized that her dad was still lying on a cot across the room. She walked over to him and knelt by the bedside. "Are you okay, Dad?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Danziger replied with all the confidence he could muster. "I just zigged when I should have zagged. Julia says I'll be all right in a while. How about you?"

"I'm all right. Never play Venusian Bounty Hunter with Morgan," she commented acidly, shooting Morgan a sour look. "He runs."

"I did not run," Morgan retorted hotly, then realized how childish he sounded. Seeing the looks Julia, Alonzo, and Yale directed at him, he backpedaled, but not really in the right direction when he continued, "I was looking for cover."

"Go play something quiet," Danziger said. "Maybe Cameron could use your help in the kitchen. He could show you a thing or two about real food."

"Okay, Dad," True pressed a kiss onto his forehead. "Be good for Julia."

"I will," he answered and watched True, Uly, and Morgan leave the room. Just as they stepped out the door, he could hear the argument crank back up again.

Yale and Alonzo went back to work at the computer station, but Julia crossed back over to pull up a chair next to Danziger's bedside.

"How's the pain?" she asked.

"Better as long as I don't move," he answered grimly.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," Julia apologized. "I just didn't want you do hurt yourself any more than you already had."

"No problem, doc," came the steady reply. "Listen," Danziger continued softly, "I think I'm losing it. When I saw True with blood all over her, something snapped."

"Anyone would be worried about their child, John. Head wounds bleed like crazy, you know that. You were just frightened," Julia said gently.

"It was more than that. I keep having visions—hallucinations--of black rain. When I saw True, I had another one—like a memory of Bess and I standing in black rain and Bess was saying that True was dying," Danziger said. "It's from the sunstone. It's something she told us that we can't remember. Bess feels it too. We're not safe here. Something is wrong and it has to do with black rain falling."

Julia looked down at him with concern. "John, I'll check True over again this afternoon. I'll check everything I know how to check, I promise. If something is wrong, we'll find it," she said with all the assurance she could muster. "You rest now. Try to sleep."

"I'd rather not. My dreams haven't been too pleasant of late," Danziger responded wryly.

"Then just rest, okay?" she offered. He gave her a tiny nod again and closed his eyes.

She crossed back over to Alonzo and Yale. "Have either of you run into any reference to black rain?" she asked.

Alonzo shook his head, but Yale paused in thought. "Yes," he began, his voice taking on the distant quality that meant he was accessing his memories. "As I was going through the logs, there was a note about an apparent meteor explosion in the upper atmosphere. The debris seeded the cloud cover and caused a rainstorm that contained particles of carbon and iron. That's really all that was said. At the time, the last of the children had died. I don't think the colonists were overly concerned about meteoric dust."

"They weren't, but maybe we should be," Alonzo said. "What else did John say?"

"He says he can't remember any more than that and Bess saying that True was dying," Julia answered. "I'd say we should talk to Bess, but I think she's even less able to remember than John is. Morgan has been very worried about her. He says she has terrible nightmares that she can't remember and was crying in the shower earlier, but didn't know why."

"I'm going to go check on her," Alonzo offered. "Just to be sure she's all right."

"That would seem like a very good idea," Yale affirmed.

Alonzo walked down the hall to the room the Martins had settled in and tapped lightly on the door. "Bess," he called softly.

There was no answer, but he could hear her on the other side. She sounded distressed. He opened the door and peered in to see her on the bed, apparently in the throes of a dream. She tossed and mumbled incoherently.

Alonzo walked to the bedside, intending to wake her when he suddenly had another idea. He hadn't been able to enter the sunstone's Dreamplane, but maybe he could enter her dreams now. The elder did so by touching a Terrian as the link. But maybe Alonzo had enough power and experience to do it on his own.

His eyelids fluttered and closed as he slipped onto the Dreamplane. The familiar whirls of white swirled around him and he looked for Bess. "Bess!" he called to her.

Nothing.

Wait, maybe there was something there. He pushed his abilities further by squatting down with both hands flat on the floor of both the bedroom and the Dreamplane. He sought the power of the earth itself, mindful of what they'd learned about the planet and the sunstones.

Suddenly there she was, standing in the open plain that surrounded the settlement. Alonzo walked to her. "Bess," he called, and the Dreamscape echoed his words back around him.

"Alonzo, come here. Come watch with me. I don't want to watch alone. John is supposed to be here," Bess answered weakly. She looked so sad and frail, so unlike the usual lively Bess he knew.

Across the plain, he could see a tall figure walking toward them. He recognized Danziger's long stride. "Good, he's coming," Bess sighed.

Danziger drew closer to them and Bess went to meet him. "It's been awful without you. I hate watching by myself," she said and Alonzo saw her throw her arms around him. They stood there together for a moment, leaning on each other.

"You shouldn't have gone to sleep by yourself. I know I was trying to stay awake," Danziger said grimly.

"I asked her to call you. I don't like to watch alone," Bess explained. "Alonzo came to watch with us."

Danziger reached out to shake his hand, then pulled him into a rough embrace. Then Danziger looked down at him in concern and said, "Lonz, we appreciate you're being here and all, but are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, I want to help," Alonzo replied although he wasn't exactly sure what he was helping with.

Bess listened for a moment to a voice only she could hear, then held out her hand. Alonzo could see a sunstone in it. Tears glimmered in her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks.

Danziger reached out to place a comforting hand on either side of her face, wiping her tears. "It's okay, Bess, we're all going to watch, then we're all going to wake up and try to remember so we can tell Julia everything. Alonzo's going to help us remember, okay?" Danziger's voice was warm and comforting and Bess nodded. He reached down to take her free hand in his. "I'm right here," he added.

Bess held the stone out before her. Danziger looked at Alonzo, determination shining in his eyes. "We can do this," Danziger said in encouragement. "Ready, Lonz?"

At Alonzo's nod they both reached out to touch the sunstone, and Alonzo felt like his brain had caught fire.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The second his fingertips touched the sunstone, Alonzo felt as though his mind had been dragged through a plasma coil. The power and intelligence that ran through him threatened to overwhelm him. He felt his knees buckle, then a strong hand gripped his elbow and held him steady.

He opened his eyes again to find himself standing on the Dreamscape version of the main thoroughfare through the settlement, John and Bess on either side of him. The sunstone was no longer in her hand. John gave him a concerned look, then when Alonzo nodded that he was okay, John let go of his elbow.

"Pretty intense, huh?" John ventured. "The first time is a real experience. It gets easier though."

As the three of them walked through the town, Alonzo realized that it was inhabited. The landscaping was carefully tended and he could see people gathering together in an open grassy area ahead of them.

They moved in closer and stood in a loose ring with maybe twenty adults. Six children stood in the center, ranging in ages from maybe three to seven or eight. Suddenly a group of Terrians rose from the earth and began to circle the children—but not in a threatening manner.

Then all the children dropped to the ground in a crouch, their hands flat against the earth. As the Terrians did the same, Alonzo realized that all the adults in the circle had begun to Dream as well, just not at the level of intensity of the children and Terrians.

Then the scene shifted as eight others entered the circle. He recognized Elizabeth Anson and Franklin Bennett. They too watched, but did not Dream. Then the Council scientists disappeared.

The children stood up. Bess shrank against the two men, then buried her face in John's shoulder. "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this," she repeated.

"We have to watch, Bess. We have to remember," John said seriously, but he put his arms around her. "Alonzo, watch for her. Remember to tell Julia what we see."

Alonzo turned his attention to the group of children and watched in horror as silvery spiderwebs erupted from the backs of their necks. The tendrils crawled up their heads and down their backs, as if some horrible spider inside their brains was trying to encase them in silk. The children began to scream in pain, collapsing to the ground in spasms of agony.

The Terrian group began to circle them faster, sending up their own piercing cries of grief and torment. Finally, all the children sank into the ground, followed by the Terrians. The adults were left alone, and their grief was a palpable thing on the Dreamplane. Alonzo could feel it penetrate deep into his marrow.

Sadness and hopelessness pervaded them. There was a sudden bright flash overhead, but no one even seemed to notice. When a black rain began to fall, it seemed appropriate and not at all unusual. Only the fact that Alonzo's conscious mind was aware of its significance kept him focused.

Bess turned to him, the same deep grief etched on her face, and said, "She knows you understand what you see. Keep watching, Alonzo." The sunstone was back in her hand and she held it out before them.

"This is not of her, she says," Bess narrated. "This is something she cannot touch."

He felt something on the back of his neck. When he reached up to touch it, he was disturbed to pull silvery spiderwebs away from his body.

"Look," Bess instructed.

Alonzo looked out to see that the town had changed. It was now overgrown. Instead of the adult settlers, he saw their own group gathering in a circle. The unusual dark rain continued to fall on them, including Devon, he was surprised to see. Uly, however, stood apart from the group with a pair of Terrians, observing.

He felt John stiffen at his side as True fell to the ground motionless. Bess looked at Alonzo and said, "True is dying."

He looked to see an image himself fall next to True. Bess looked at him again. "Then you. Then the rest of us unless we hurry. Unless Julia can help us. Uly is safe. The Terrians have protected him. They would have protected Devon as well, but there was not time. She didn't understand then."

"Alonzo, can you remember this?" John asked him, his voice intense. "When Bess and I wake up, we only get bits and pieces. It's harder on Bess because she's closer to the planet than I am. I don't know how much longer she can do this."

Alonzo looked at Bess again and he could see the strain in her that John referred to as she stared off into the distance, unfocused and mournful. "Can you remember, Alonzo?" John repeated.

"I don't know, maybe," he answered nervously. "I'll do my best."

John took Bess by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "It's time to wake up now, Bess. Let it go and let's wake up," he instructed. Bess looked down at the sunstone in her hand.

"I can't," she whispered. "It's too hard."

"You can do it. Just let it go," John repeated, his voice warm and encouraging.

Alonzo watched as her fingers slowly uncurled from the stone. At last the stone rolled out of her hand, and she collapsed into John's arms. Alonzo watched as he pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. "Good girl," he murmured gently. Then he looked over at Alonzo. "We're out of here," he said with a sad resignation.

The Dreamscape flickered around him and with a start, Alonzo realized that he still crouched on the floor of Bess's bedroom. He looked up to see her stir to wakefulness on the bed.

"Alonzo," she asked bemusedly as she opened her eyes, "did you see? Do you remember?"

He realized immediately what she was asking. He did remember. "Yes, I remember. Can you walk? We need to go see Julia."

He helped her to her feet and they walked down the hall to the laboratory. As they entered the room, Bess looked across to see Danziger lying on the bed, apparently still sleeping.

She crossed the room to his side and called to him, "John, wake up. Alonzo remembers. Wake up."

"He's going to be out for a while longer," Julia interrupted. "He was moving too much in his sleep so I gave him a sedi-derm to keep him still."

"He can't wake up from this?" Bess asked, horrified. "He's got to wake up. It's awful having to watch alone. Please wake him up, Julia!" The pleading in her voice was heartwrenching.

Julia directed a questioning look at Alonzo.

"Let me see if I can check on him," Alonzo told Bess gently. She nodded and he slipped onto the Dreamplane. Julia and Yale watched in interest as he stretched his hand out over Danziger's sleeping form.

Soon Alonzo's dark eyes flickered open again and gave them a handsome smile. "He's fine, Bess. It's over."

Bess sighed in relief and sat down in the chair at Danziger's side. "Alonzo, having you Dream with us helped. It's like you showed her how to unlock our minds. I remember now," she sounded so drawn and weary.

She sighed and reached out to pull the light cover higher over Danziger's shoulders. "It was so awful to watch those little kids die that way," her voice shook. "But John took care of me." She looked up at Alonzo and gave him a little smile. "We'll be okay now."

From across the room, Yale called to them, and Julia and Alonzo crossed back over to the terminal where the cyborg busily tapped out commands on the system terminal.

"I've found an encrypted file," he began. "It appears to be a medical log. All the other logs have been open to access, but this one has been secured. Well secured."

Alonzo strode over to the door. "Where are you going?" Julia asked.

"To find our resident hacker," Alonzo answered grimly.

In the vid room, Uly and True stood side by side on the deck of a pitching ship, their clothes having with a distinctly piratey feel. Behind them, Morgan Martin, terror of the seven seas, issued orders to a rough crew of sailors. "Make yourselves useful, me hearties," he ordered. "Keep a weather eye out for the Pato del Oro. There's treasure on board her, my boys, treasure!"

"We should never have let him picked the next game," Uly grumbled to True as a pair of deck mops appeared in their hands.

"Cabin boys, start swabbing!" Morgan ordered with a malicious laugh.

Suddenly the vid froze around them as the door opened and Alonzo entered the room, taking in the scenery with a knowing grin. "Captain Morgan, you're needed on the poop deck," he announced, taking Morgan by the arm and pulling him out of the room.

As they exited, Morgan's head popped back through the door, saying, "Don't play without me!"

Uly and True looked at one another as the door closed. Then True called out, "Venusian Bounty Hunter—two players!"

"And no runners," Uly added firmly.

Back in the med lab, Morgan began work on breaking the code. "It's older encryption, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy to break," he commented to the group.

"You could always use the sunstone again," Alonzo suggested.

"Absolutely not," Morgan replied firmly. "She doesn't like me very much. I'm sure of it. I'd just as soon work on my own, thank you."

Several minutes later, he was still working. "This is awful!" he cried. "Why is this code so blasted complicated? After all, who could they be trying to keep out--Grendlers?" He stretched his tense shoulders for a bit.

"Hmmm, that's a very good question, Morgan," Yale thought aloud. "Who would they be trying to keep out?

"I can't do it," Morgan sighed.

"Yes, you can," Danziger's voice carried across the room from where he lay on the cot. "You know how."

Morgan turned to look at Danziger and Bess, who still sat next to the bed, a look of sudden comprehension flickering over his face. "No, I'm not touching that thing again," Morgan stammered. "She doesn't like me."

"She might not be your biggest fan, but I do like you, Morgan honey," Bess said, crossing the room toward him. "Alonzo helped me to remember and now I know how to help you."

He looked up at her with fear in his eyes. "I don't know, Bess," he began nervously as she gently turned him back to the terminal.

"Shhh, it's okay," she whispered, then closed her eyes and placed her hands on his neck and the back of his head.

Morgan's eyes fluttered and he slumped a bit, then he straightened and began typing and murmuring to himself.

"They're Dreaming," Alonzo commented in surprise, "but it's different from Terrian Dreaming. It's like it's on another frequency." His eyes unfocused a minute as he sought the feel of it. "But now I can access it too. Something's changed in me."

He focused his dark eyes on Julia. "Check the biostat implants in them. It has something to do with them—the silvery spiderwebs." He reached back to rub the back of his neck and wouldn't have been at all surprised to pull out strands as he had in the Dreamscape with Danziger and Bess.

Julia quickly pulled on her diaglove and began to check them. "Yes," she exclaimed, "there's heightened activity throughout the brain, but I can tell that the implant is either being stimulated or doing the stimulation—it's hard to tell."

"What about me?" Alonzo asked. "I'm going to see if I can Dream with them."

Julia held the diaglove over Alonzo as his dark head nodded into his customary Dreaming stance. At first, there was no change, but then it was as if a light came on inside his head.

Alonzo watched as numbers and symbols swirled around the Dreamscape like a whirlwind, drawn somehow into Morgan. Bess stood behind him, a sunstone in one hand and the other on Morgan's shoulder.

"Let 'em work, Lonz," Danziger's deep voice sounded behind him. "She's smart—scary smart. Now you've shown her how to reach us so we can remember it. The line between Dreams and life is getting thinner all the time. I hope we can learn to deal with it."

"This is crazy," Alonzo responded. "How long before we're Dreaming instead of talking?"

"I don't know, man," Danziger answered. "I don't know."

"I've got it," Morgan and Bess said at the exact same time.

Bess looked down at the sunstone in her hand. "Thanks, Mom," she said softly and opened her hand to let the sunstone disappear.

Then they all stood back in the med lab. Danziger still lay on the cot across the room. The terminal revealed the face of a man, a very sick man.

Julia pulled at Alonzo's arm, "Your chip went through the roof too. Yale noticed that Danziger was out of it and I checked his—also hyperactive. What is going on here?"

"I think we're about to find out," Alonzo answered distantly, his mind still hazy from Dreaming.

"Hey, doc," Danziger called. "Before you play that thing, do you think its okay for me to come watch too?"

Julia shook herself, feeling like she was the only one not in the loop here. The feeling bothered her. Distractedly, she moved to the cot and eased Danziger over onto his side. The puncture was sealing up nicely. "You can get up," she said sternly, "but don't pick up anything heavier than a toothbrush until tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am," Danziger responded, as meekly as he was capable of being. Still careful of excessive movement, Julia pulled up a stool for him to sit on.

They joined the others at the terminal and Morgan looked around at all of them before starting playback.

"If Franklin Bennett is watching this," the man's voice began roughly, "I hope he rots in hell."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Gathered around the med lab terminal, Yale, Julia, Alonzo, Bess, Morgan, and Danziger watched the last statement of a man who'd been dead for fifty years. In appearance, he was perhaps in his thirties or forties and wore a medical insignia on his lapel. But more than anything, he looked sick, deathly ill.

After his first angry outburst, the man took a shallow breath and continued, "If anyone else from earth is watching this, I hope whatever Bennett did to us doesn't effect you too. If so, I'm attaching all the data we've collected so far on this ailment or whatever you want to call it." He entered a command into the terminal in front of him, and at the bottom of the screen, the link to a packet of information appeared.

Then the man continued speaking, his voice tired and breathless. "The Terrians can't help us. We've already learned from the children," his voice broke a little, "that they aren't able to do much with station technology. So whatever this is that's making us sick, it is not from this planet."

He coughed and shuddered. "I sincerely hope that somehow Bennett finds himself back here so he too can die from this."

"If you are watching from earth, I want to tell you not to be afraid of this planet," the man continued sincerely. "Bennett was terrified of what he saw the children becoming, but we were elated. We Dreamed with the Terrians too. We understood." His eyes half closed and his voice took on a dreamy quality as he remembered.

Then he forced his attention back to his recording. "Bennett and his team could not Dream. They already had those damned biostat implants when they got here. The Terrians said they couldn't reach them for Dreaming. I guess the implants interfered with their ability to make contact."

The man paused a moment to take a few breaths. "Elizabeth Anson, if it is you watching this, we forgive you. I don't believe you would have ever put those into our children if you'd known what they'd do. Bennett told us that they would allow Eve to watch over the children, know where they were and that they were healthy." The man gave a bitter bark of laughter, which began a coughing fit. Once he recovered, he continued bitterly. "I know those implants killed them."

The man wheezed. Julia could see a slight blue tinge beginning to creep into his face. "My little girl died because Franklin Bennett couldn't see the future. I guess it scared him so badly he decided to kill all of us—declare the planet uninhabitable. I don't know what he sent to explode over us, but it's working. We're all dying."

He paused to collect himself again. "Out of friendship, the Terrians are taking us into the earth with them one by one as we go. I can't think of a better place to rest."

The man paused again, wiping his hand across his upper lip. Julia noticed that his hand was shaking. She could see the effort it took for him to continue. "Anyway, if you're watching from earth, I hope whatever he dumped on us has dissipated. I hope you get to live in the new world we only got to glimpse."

His voice grew ragged and weak as he leaned in toward the recorder. She could see that his eyes were bloodshot and his skin was gray. With a final push, he managed to say, "But if you're Franklin Bennett, I hope you rot in hell."

He reached out to shut off the recorder, but his fingers never made it. Instead he collapsed onto the desk—the very same desk they stood around. Morgan realized that he was sitting in a dead man's chair and shifted uncomfortably. The recording continued as a pair of Terrians entered the room and carefully lifted the man's lifeless body and carried it out of the frame.

The group watched in silence as the minutes ticked by, the video showing only an empty desk and an empty laboratory. At last the automatic shutoff triggered and the screen went blank, leaving only the link to the information packet blinking pleasantly in the lower left corner.

They looked at each other, no one prepared to begin the discussion of what they'd seen.

At last Bess spoke up. "We know what killed the children. Elizabeth injected biostat implants into them, but their bodies rejected them."

Julia spoke up, saying, "Elizabeth knew from the symptoms we had that Eve—Riley—was overamplifying our biostat implants. I'd say she knew the symptoms because Eve overamplified the chips in the children, probably in an attempt to reassert control."

"But the adults never had implant chips. They all died from whatever substance was in the black rain that fell," Alonzo continued. "This man blames Franklin Bennett."

"Did Bennett and Elizabeth really die of cold sleep syndrome or was it this black rain stuff?" Morgan asked. "Is there something in the air around here that killed them and made Devon sick?"

"Mom says Devon has the same sickness that killed the colonists," Bess added.

"I wish you wouldn't call her Mom," Morgan responded quietly. "It creeps me out." Bess just shrugged.

"Uly won't get it, Devon already has it, and True is dying, then me," Alonzo aired his thoughts. Danziger stiffened at his words and Alonzo immediately regretted speaking them aloud. "Sorry, Danz," he offered in apology.

But Danziger replied, "No, we have to tell what we know—or what we think we know. The planet said we have to tell all this to Julia so she can figure it out. Whatever's in that rain, it's an earth thing, a human thing. Not something the planet can rectify by itself. She needs us to do it."

"There's something else we're missing," Bess began. "Something else Mom told us that was very important."

"You said that there was no time for Devon," Yale recalled.

"I don't think the planet understood what was happening in time to do anything about Devon's illness," Danziger suggested. "For some reason, we're not being effected as quickly as she was. There may be time to do something—but it's something we will have to do. The planet and the Terrians can't affect it."

"Was there anything else?" Bess asked, looking down at Danziger intently. "John, help me remember. Was there something else?"

Danziger closed his eyes in concentration. Then he felt a hand on the back of his neck, fingers reaching up into his hair, gripping the back of his head. That was it. He opened his eyes to look up at Bess as she stood close to him, her hair framing her face in loose curls as she leaned in.

"The thing that was killing you is now healing you," Bess whispered as they locked eyes.

Julia was taken aback at the intensity of the connection between the two of them. She wondered if they were aware of the depth of the bond they now shared. She wondered if Morgan could see it. Curious, she darted a glance at Morgan and could tell by the look in his dark eyes that he had.

"Julia," Danziger and Bess called to her simultaneously, but Danziger finished the statement, "the implant is somehow protecting us. But it won't keep protecting us forever. True's is already starting to fail, then Alonzo's. If we don't figure this out, they'll die."

Bess stepped back away from him as he reached out to take Julia's arm. "We don't know how much time we have," Danziger said softly, his voice rough with suppressed emotion.

At that moment, the door to the med lab opened to admit a chattering, very alive True, followed by an equally vibrant Uly. "That was way better!" True laughed. She turned a bright smile to her father. "Dad, you should have seen it. Uly was on one side and I was on the other and we had the garg cornered."

"Netted, bagged, and bountied," Uly cried triumphantly. The two children high-fived each other.

"Hey, don't overdo the excitement, you two," Danziger tried to seem nonchalant but he knew an edge of worry crept into his voice.

The two children were still too excited by their win to notice the strain in the adults in the room, as everyone attempted to act casually.

True gave Danziger a long, measured look. "How are you doing, Dad?" she asked directly.

"I'm fine, kiddo," he answered as evenly as he could manage.

"Julia, is he telling the truth?" True turned to the doctor.

Julia's eyes flickered almost imperceptibly, then her business as usual voice came online. "Sure, he's fine. Just make sure he takes it easy for the rest of the day. No lifting or stretching. So no work on the rover or anything," she commanded both of them.

"I'll take good care of him," True assured her. "Dad, Uly and I are going to go exploring in the houses."

Before Danziger could shout a negative to that, Yale spoke up. "I don't think that's a very good idea, children. Those houses are full of dust and have been closed up for some time now. It might not be the healthiest environment to be in."

"That's okay, Yale," Uly spoke up. "I never get sick anymore."

"Me either. I'm never sick," True answered.

"All the same, kids," Julia intervened, "I'm sure there are more fun things to do around here than breathe in dust."

Morgan spoke up, "Did you guys finish playing Hoist the Jolly Roger?"

"Boring!" Uly sighed.

"Come on," he said, rising from his seat to place one hand on either child's shoulder and guiding them out the door. "I'm sure there's got to be at least one more game worth trying out."

They both looked up at him suspiciously. "Okay, okay," Morgan sighed. "I admit it. I ran. Those garg things are terrifying."

As the three walked out the door, Danziger could hear True say, "Morgan, if you run, they chase you. You have to stay on the hunt."

The door closed behind the three of them.

"So, what do we do?" Yale asked. "Do we leave and hope that we leave the sickness behind? True certainly seems well enough."

"It's too late to leave," Bess said quietly. "Devon has already gotten it and we are already exposed to it, whatever it is."

"In that case," Julia began, "I'd say we take advantage of the information this man left us and the equipment we have here and begin work on figuring out what this is. I have Devon's tissue samples to work with and I'll need some new samples from True, Alonzo, and Uly to see what kinds of differences I can find between them. I already have something from Bess and John. I should probably go ahead and start the DNA analyis." Her voice trailed off as her mind switched gears into research mode.

Danziger reached out to take her by the shoulder. "Doc, you need to be sure to do one thing for me," he said quietly.

Julia turned back to face him as he continued, "Take advantage of all the help you can get. Yale for sure. Baines has at least some training as a medic. Bess and I will stay in touch with Her to see if She can yield any help or insight. Alonzo can get up with the Terrians to see if any of them are still around from before. Maybe they remember something that might help us. You can't do this alone and you can't work yourself to exhaustion."

Julia nodded agreement, and Danziger carefully rose to his feet to take advantage of his height before making his next statement.

He looked around the room at each of the faces before him. "We can do this, folks," Danziger stated firmly. "We can figure this out."

Then he concluded, "We have to or we'll die."

_Author's Note: This ran a little long for a standard episode, I think. If it were actually being filmed, they'd have probably cut out all the backstory stuff with the rest of the crew just to make it fit run time. However, I didn't want to leave that out, even though I am striving for episodic development rather than novel or short story development. And since I am the studio executive in charge of this production, I just made it the way I want it! _

_Thanks for the recent reviews, guys! I really really really appreciate the feedback!!!_


End file.
